Guest Post: Eating Seasonally

"It's been a while since my last blog post due because I've been busy with my thesis but today we have the honor of having another guest post. Today's post is written by Tony Cukierski, ATC, HHP.  Tony is a good friend of my last guest post author and is a personal acquaintance of my own as well.
 Tony is a certified health counselor and helps individuals through positive dietary and lifestyle changes. He is a certified Holistic Health Practitioner by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners and he also attended and graduated from The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Tony started his education at Northern Illinois University where he received his Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology and is a Certified Athletic Trainer.

Tony has his own website and blog at www.Nourishing4Life.com. Tony founded Nourishing4Life Health & Wellness to better help others with their dietary and lifestyle changes. You can find and follow Nourishing4Life and Tony on twitter as well! His thoughts and post echo a lot of my own values and ideas about nutrition. I hope you enjoy it!"

Eating Seasonally

What is it?—Eating seasonally is exactly what it sounds like—eating foods that are available or ripe during a season of year in your geographical region. Many years ago people didn’t know what eating seasonally was; they just ate foods that were available to them in their geographical region for that time of year. A wonderful excerpt from Joshua Rosenthal’s book Integrative Nutrition that elaborates, “Our ancestors ate seasonally because they had no choice. Fresh greens grew in spring, fruit ripened in summer, root vegetables kept them going in fall, and people relied on animal food to get them through the winter.” This is truly seasonal eating. Understanding this concept is beneficial in achieving good health and sustaining a healthy environment.

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Why do you run?

I was asked a very innocent and nonchalant question the other day. The question was produced by a little small talk but in reality it was a deep question. The answer to this question has many parts or layers and many different but viable responses. I realized that the response that I would give is dependent upon time.

 I wasn’t always a runner or a fan of running. I label the younger or adolescent version of myself as the stereotypical fat or chubby kid. I dreaded the mile run for gym class in elementary school and one day I even faked sick so I could stay at home and not participate in the perceived torture.

I definitely was a stereotypical fat kid.

I didn’t get into running until my sophomore year of college when I worked with cross country and track athletes during my second clinical rotation as an athletic training student. My interests in endurance sports had begun to develop as I had taken up cycling as a recreational and fitness hobby before the start of college. I would assist my preceptor in evaluating and treating these athletes and would be amazed at the durations of their runs. I was shocked but inspired at the same time that people could run for 60-90-120 minutes without struggle and do it several times a week.

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